Art History Studies Research Articles

Interior design history and timeline

Interior Design history and timeline offer fascinating explorations of the evolution of design practices across various civilizations and epochs. This paper, delves into the rich heritage of interior design, tracing its trajectory from Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to Contemporary global trends. Drawing upon the interdisciplinary insights from Art History, Architecture, Sociology, and Technology studies, the study examines the cultural, social, and technological factors that have shaped interior design over time. Key themes include the influence of cultural contexts, the role of historical legacies, and the impact of technological advancements on design evolution. Through qualitative inquiry and comprehensive literature reviews, the research elucidates the enduring relevance and dynamic nature of Interior Design, providing valuable insights for contemporary designers and scholars.

Digital humanities in the era of digital reproducibility: towards a fairest and post-computational framework

Reproducibility has become a requirement in the hard sciences, and its adoption is gradually extending to the digital humanities. The FAIR criteria and the publication of data papers are both indicative of this trend. However, the question that arises is whether the strict prerequisites of digital reproducibility serve only to exclude digital humanities from broader humanities scholarship. Instead of adopting a binary approach, an alternative method acknowledges the unique features of the objects, inquiries, and techniques of the humanities, including digital humanities, as well as the social and historical contexts in which the concept of reproducibility has developed in the human sciences. In the first part of this paper, I propose to examine the historical and disciplinary context in which the concept of reproducibility has developed within the human sciences, and the disciplinary struggles involved in this process, especially for art history and literature studies. In the second part, I will explore the question of reproducibility through two art history research projects that utilize various computational methods. I argue that issues of corpus, method, and interpretation cannot be separated, rendering a procedural definition of reproducibility impractical. Consequently, I propose the adoption of ‘post-computational reproducibility’, which is based on FAIREST criteria as far as digital corpora are concerned (FAIR + Ethics and Expertise, Source mention + Time-Stamp), but extended to include further sources that confirm computational results with other non-computational methodologies.

Faience Art Item’s Stylistic Analysis in the Context of Its Complex Investigation (As Exemplified by a 19th Century Tureen)

Awareness of the importance of studying faience art industry of the 19th century reveals itself in the increasing researchers’ attention to this material. In this regard, a faience tureen with overglaze monochrome painting applied by transfer printing technique produced by the Creil factory (France) aroused interest. Stylistic analysis and the search for analogues allowed to confirm production place and time of the item, to assess its artistic merits, to identify the pictorial sources of its decoration, and to analyze features of transferring a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional ceramic surface using the transfer printing technique. Revealing the sources of pictorial decoration on ceramic objects is recognized as a valuable result of art history research, since the question of relationship between pictorial motifs on ceramic art items and contemporary graphics is not elaborated enough both in Russian and foreign art history. For the same reason, investigation on the issues of adapting a two-dimensional original image to a curved shape, i. e. of coordinating the shape and decoration of a ceramic item, are also valuable: these aspects are also presented extremely scarcely in art historical studies. Stylistic analysis is not sufficient very often for attributing ceramic art objects; therefore, other research methods such as archival heuristics and expertise using natural science methods are often involved for this purpose. Both archival documents and production casts and molds of the Creil factory have been lost. The shape and size of the object are difficult for instrumental study. Under such conditions, stylistic analysis turns out to be the leading method for studying items of the kind. Realizing all the limitations of this method, we demonstrate its capabilities where the use of others is significantly difficult or impossible.

Храмовая архитектура в контексте теоэстетики: междисциплинарный подход

The article provides a critical analysis and systematization of approaches to the study of temple architecture within the framework of interdisciplinary research that comprehends classical philosophical and religious approaches, as well as research at the intersection of sociology, cultural studies, aesthetics, psychology and architectural theory. Theoaesthetics is used as a philosophical basis, i.e. the temple as an aesthetic object is interpreted as the source and the habitation of all created perfection, which allows the “thing of beauty” to coincide with the truth of art and the truth of creation, manifesting itself in various phenomena – everyday life, culture, psychology, politics. The authors conclude that the beauty of the temple resists narrowing down to a symbolic series. On the one hand, the correlative nature of art history and religious studies approaches based on hermeneutics are shown (Understanding Architectural Studies by Stepan Vaneyan, The Hermeneutics of Sacred Architecture by Lindsay Jones, Hierophany by Mircea Eliade, the approaches of Henri Cobin, Ivan Davydov, Sharif Shukurov), and, on the other hand, the limitations of these approaches are shown in terms of criticism of the scientific method. Interdisciplinary research is represented by the architectural ontology of Mark Savchenko, the concept of Andrei Zabiyako, the research done by modern anthropologists such as Oscar Verkaaik, Mattijs van de Port, Markha Valenta, evolutionary psychologists Yannik Joye, Jan Verpooten. In these studies, the function of religious architecture is designated as overcoming and restructuring the symbolic structures that subordinate religious behavior and thinking of people. Scientists distinguish three modes of Christian temple architecture: (1) the material mode, where the temple is presented as a monument (Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Nora, Jan Assmann, Aleida Assmann, Alois Riegl developed tools for comparing memory and history); (2) the semiological mode, presenting architecture as communication (Umberto Eco, Yuri Lotman); (3) the functional mode (Henri Lefebvre, Bert Daelemans). Communication theories are presented by Oleg Davydov and John Zizioulas, who apply the image of the “communion of the Holy Trinity” to the interpretation of the image of the temple. Representatives of ecotheology believe that temple architecture is inseparable from the environment (Evgenii Arinin, Sigurd Bergmann, Roald E. Kristiansen). After combining the results of various social and human sciences, entering the field of interdisciplinary research transformed the “meanings of temple architecture” into the process of “human creation of sacred spaces”. Theoaesthetics made it possible to not detach the understanding of meanings from the theological content in which they were created, as well as to expand disciplinary boundaries, without losing the perception of the temple as a manifestation of “God’s glory”, as a complementarity of narratives and explanations telling about the infinite splendor of God.

Interview with Giuliana Bruno

Giuliana Bruno is Emmet Blakeney Gleason Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University, situated in the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts. For over three decades, her critical thinking has been characterized by sophistication, rigor and originality, placing her among the leading world academics exploring intersections between visual arts, art history, architecture, film, and visual culture studies. Bruno's interdisciplinary approach has fostered connections between these fields, enriching our understanding of visual culture. Her work anticipated the field of ‘media archaeology’, uncovering and analyzing historical layers and traces embedded in visual artifacts for deeper contextual insights. She has also contributed significantly to spatial theory, particularly in relation to the intersection of architecture, art, and film, exploring how spaces and places shape our experiences and perceptions. In anticipation of her visit to São Paulo in December 2023, Significação: Revista de Cultura Audiovisual conducted a two-hour online interview with Bruno, focusing on Atmospheres of Projection and her other groundbreaking contributions.

The reliquary shrine of Saint Odilia in Borgloon (1292): An iconographical reconstruction

A remarkable thirteenth-century reliquary shrine of Saint Odilia kept in the Church of Saint Odulphus in Borgloon (Belgium) – notably the oldest dated example of panel paintings in the Low Countries – has been the topic of several art historical studies. These studies attempt to unravel the iconography of the painted panels, indicating how they should be interpreted, and in which order. The difficulty of this, however, lies in the fact that the reliquary shrine has been fully overpainted but also dramatically modified in the seventeenth century to fit into a smaller location. In the process, the original roof panels were modified, with sawn-off elements lost to time. The reliquary shrine, commissioned by the Order of the Holy Cross in Huy (Belgium) in 1292, depicts multiple scenes, on all sides, that illustrate the life of Saint Odilia. Scholars have regularly drawn on published legends of Odilia from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but no consensus on the source of the images has ever been reached. The current article, however, draws attention to a much earlier, fifteenth-century manuscript of the legend of Saint Odilia that is kept in the library of the University of Liège. The manuscript, written by Wolterus of Nijmegen in 1467 with references to an even older version from 1291, has rarely been associated with the reliquary shrine, but it is of vital importance for the analysis and interpretation of the paintings. In bringing this version of the legend of Saint Odilia together with recent material-technical research carried out at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in Brussels, a new iconographic analysis and reconstruction of the reliquary shrine is presented here. It can now be verified that each panel had to be read from left to right, with the first roof scene with the arrival of the virgins in Rome originally positioned above the murder scene in Cologne. The second scene on the roof, where Saint Ursula receives the Pope’s blessing, was placed above the excavation and translation of Odilia’s relics. Additionally, the depiction of Saint Ursula with a banner can be seen as a highly unusual example of panel painting in the Low Countries, and it probably even shows the oldest depiction of the Pope in relation to the Saint Ursula cult. Finally, this study shows how the shrine was used: each pilgrim was given the opportunity to experience the legendary life of Saint Odilia in chronological order by walking around the reliquary shrine not once, but twice.

Shaping the Changbai Mountain School: Necessity and Possibility -On the Discourse Surrounding the Formation of Artistic Schools

Artistic schools represent a theoretical paradigm in the discourse of art history and art historical narrative. While discussions on Chinese art genres and artistic schools have been prevalent in classical Chinese art, theoretical introspection regarding their existence has emerged relatively late. In recent years, there has been a growing academic debate in China about the rationality of artistic schools. Of particular interest is the assertion made by some scholars that there is no need to deliberately create artistic schools. As a duality in the realms of art history and art historical studies, does the existence of artistic schools have theoretical and aesthetic justification? What are the boundaries, and where lies their value? This paper, drawing insights from Changbai Mountain painting, combines theoretical discussions from art history to explore the rationality and limitations of the existence of artistic schools, aiming to provide a new perspective for the discourse on Chinese arts artistic schools.

Bibliographical Subjects in the Scientific Work of Central Libraries of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation

Bibliography is one of the main areas in the range of scientific specialties of the Higher Attestation Commission in section 5.10 “Art History and Cultural Studies”, specialty 5.4.10 “Library Science, Bibliography and Bibliology”. The article is devoted to the problem of reflecting bibliographic subjects in the scientific activities of the central libraries of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the article is to consider the problems of creating bibliographic resources, conducting applied scientific research on bibliographic topics and how trends in the development of bibliographic activities of libraries are presented in the publications of specialists. The author concludes that not only conducting bibliographic research itself, but also creating bibliographic resources of various types and genres is scientific work, and libraries rightfully account for their scientific activities by their creation.By carrying out activities to create bibliographic resources, libraries solve historical and cultural problems: preserving the cultural, historical and scientific heritage of the peoples of Russia through bibliography.Research activities to study systems for the formation of bibliographic resources in libraries of different types and for bibliographic services to different categories of users are actually bibliographic studies, they are aimed at improving bibliographic activities themselves. By conducting such research, bibliographers determine the prospects for the development of their activities.

The dating of the Toruń portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus determined by dendrochronological, art historical and technological studies

Revealing more detail on the biography of art objects, such as their attribution, dating or the artist's methods and techniques, requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes dendrochronology as a means of providing the chronological order. The 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) offered an opportunity to conduct an in-depth study of the Toruń portrait of the Great Astronomer, also from a technological and art-historical point of view, and to compare the present findings with the results of the first attempt at dendrochronological dating made in 1987.The analysis of the painting from 2023 showed the following results of dendrochronological dating with the following end dates and time spans of tree ring series: board no. 2 - end date AD 1558, time span AD 1287–1558; and board no. 3 - end date AD 1500, time span AD 1439–1500 and unambiguously demonstrated that this most widely known image of Copernicus was created after his death.While the author of the painting is unknown, the stylistic features may suggest influences of Netherlandish or Flemish painters. The painting panel was made from Baltic oak of Lithuanian or Belarusian origin, and the well-corresponding tree-ring series of numerous Flemish paintings suggest Flanders as the origin of the Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus. A comparison of the results of the two dendrochronological studies – conducted in 1987 and 2023 using vastly different technological capabilities – provides clear evidence that the tree-ring series developed by the pioneers of art-historical dendrochronology, together with their vast databases, can be used with great confidence.

Gender Features of Art Practice of Ukraine and the East in Modern Context

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the contextual narrative of artistic expression of gender in the artistic practices of the East and Ukraine. The research methodology combines the analytical method of reviewing secondary sources. Moreover, the research is carried out in accordance with interdisciplinary knowledge principles, taking into account the intersection of gender psychology, art history, and cultural studies in addressing the specified issue. The methodological approach facilitated the synthesis and modelling of a shared artistic perspective on gender issues, unveiled within the trend of glocalisation for creative resistance in both Ukrainian and Eastern traditions. The scientific novelty of the study lies in its comparative approach, transcending monolithic and indigenous studies of artistic practice. The juxtaposition of Ukrainian and Eastern practices forms the basis for a synthetic description of gender as an artistic category within a cross-cultural context. In conclusion, significant contrasts in the aesthetics and techniques of the Ukrainian and broader Eastern artistic spaces are shaped by the tradition of forming a socio-cultural paradigm. Concurrently, these ethnic communities utilise common and similar approaches in contemporary artistic exploration of gender identity, memory, and critique. Despite significant divergence in creative methodologies, artists from both regions leverage traditional artistic elements and digital technologies to craft hybrid forms and narratives of masculinity and femininity that challenge societal norms and contribute to artistic resistance. It is noteworthy that gender appears within the cultures of the East (specifically within the Ukrainian context) as a variant of dialogue regarding the colonial narrative. The similarity in opposition to patriarchal and socialist ideologies indicates a broader ethical vector within the aesthetic system. The presented results contribute to the re-evaluation of global artistic narratives. The ongoing assimilation of artistic ideas in the context of globalisation dynamics is transforming contemporary art practices, promoting the development of glocalisation as a form of resistance, not only within the confines of artistic work, but also in its projections onto socio-psychological reality. The article emphasises emergence, revealed in the close interplay of numerous factors shaping the artistic practice of individual communities in the global world.
 Keywords: art practice, gender discourse, artistic resistance, glocalisation.

Живопись во Времени и Пространстве культуры: к столетию со дня рождения Г. О. Рокчинского (1923–1993)

Статья посвящена наследию народного художника РСФСР Гаря Рокчинского (1923–1993). В быстротечном потоке Времени творчество, одухотворенное традициями предков, органично впитывает ускользающее, живет настоящим и явственно прозревает будущее. Исследование призвано выявить в живописи дух Времени, концентрируемого в Пространстве мировидения художника. На основе произведений живописи второй половины XX в. реконструированы этапы становления и формирования творческой Личности. Произрастая на почве любви к родине, духовный мир художника воплощается в разнообразии жанров живописи и графики (пейзажа и портрета, тематической композиции), а также самобытной малой пластики. В анализе творческих поисков Г. О. Рокчинского, обозначенных циклами «Земля и люди», «Джангариада – образная память предков» и «Буддизм как философия Жизни», раскрыта глубина постижения этнической Вселенной. В произведениях, составляющих наследие художника, воплощен код национальной культуры, сохраняющий образную память народа. The study aims at understanding the creative activities of the Kalmyk artist Garri Rokchinsky (1923–1993) through the disclosure of features that make it possible to present his heritage in the space and time of traditional culture. The material included Rokchinsky’s paintings created in Shiroklag and Kazakhstan, where the artist received an art education while in deportation, as well as his canvases painted later in Kalmykia; the results of art history and cultural studies were also used. The research process in the study is a reconstruction that synthesizes the methodological foundations of history, art history, cultural studies and philosophy. The formation of the artist’s personality took place under the influence of the traditional worldview of his ancestors, which was reflected in a consistent appeal to the history of the Kalmyk people. Love for his homeland inspired Rokchinsky to understand himself and his ethnic heritage in various genres of painting, graphics and original small plastic arts. The idea that it is in fruitful activities that a person acquires ethnic identity, formed in a deeply meaningful connection of the concepts “clan”, “people” and “homeland”, was embodied in Rokchinsky’s extensive pictorial cycle Land and People. The artist’s picture of the world was further expressed through the traditions of Mongol zurag flat painting in the epic cycle Jangariada. Rokchinsky deeply understands the connection with the culture of Mongolia, the ethnic ancestral home of the Kalmyks. At this point a philosophical doctrine was introduced; the artist develops its ethical foundations in his works, which allowed him to assimilate the spiritual essence of Buddhism. In the author’s opinion, the artist’s turn to non-objective painting, which embodies the truths of existence, was a natural facet of comprehending world culture. The paintings of Rokchinsky, born in the harmony and contradictions of Existence, express the originality of the fine arts of Kalmykia as part of the artistic culture of Russia. At the same time, the universe created by the artist is one of the ethnic facets of the world artistic heritage. The space and time of Rokchinsky’s works embody the “genetic code” of national culture, preserving the figurative memory of the people. The methodology implemented in the study made it possible to reconstruct the process of formation, preservation and continuity of traditions in the art of Kalmykia, clearly represented by the works of Garri Rokchinsky, a People’s Artist of the RSFSR, whose 100th anniversary is celebrated in the Republic of Kalmykia in 2023.

Symbiotic Relations at Ca’ Inua: Farming, Exhibitions, and Social Engagement. A Conversation with the Artist Collective Panem et Circenses (Ludovico Pensato and Alessandra Ivul)

Our contribution discusses the practice of Panem et Circenses (Alessandra Ivul and Ludovico Pensato), an art collective whose work revolves around food and agriculture. After founding Panem et Circenses in Berlin, Ivul and Pensato opened an artist-run exhibition space devoted to food-based practices in Bologna. Since 2017, they have lived at Ca’ Inua, a farm in Marzabotto, on the Bologna Apennines. Ivul and Pensato see their experimentation with regenerative and sustainable farming as a form of performance art, an embodiment of their engagement with philosophy and theory. Their work participates in discourses—with a range of variations that build on Indigenous sciences/knowledges, posthumanist and new materialist philosophies, and environmental arts and humanities—that recenter symbiosis, relationality, and human/more-than-human entanglements. Our methodological approach relies on critical, art historical, and visual studies tools and is informed by ethnographic observations on site as well as an interview with the artists published here. We begin to address the specificity of Panem et Circenses’ relationship with the lands that they care for and locate their experience in the larger landscape of Art Farming practices. Panem et Circenses translate theoretical frameworks into everyday interactions, hands-on activities, community-building, and long-term planning for the ecology of Ca’ Inua.

Looking Beyond Jerusalem: A Fifteenth-Century Exercise in Image Comparison

Abstract Critical image comparison is a widespread art-historical practice. This essay explores why a Brabantine artist encouraged viewers to exercise it in the late fifteenth century. At the time, northern European artists tested out how images could be means of transcending the visible world while simultaneously showcasing their very constructedness. The self-reflexivity that characterises such images has engendered a particularly rich field of art-historical studies. This essay focuses on a little-known image which was designed to combine two visual concepts devised more than three centuries apart – a twelfth-century map of Jerusalem, and a cityscape popularised in the fifteenth century – and required viewers to realise this combination in their minds, using external images recollected before their internal eyes. In its complex conception, the image becomes a unique contributor to the vibrant debate about the right use of images in late medieval devotion, and to the long history of image comparisons.

The economics of art history

The study of art history has been traditionally focused on the description of artistic innovations, the role of the artists and the meaning of the artworks. It has often neglected the broader reasons why certain innovations took place in certain places, in specific times and in particular ways. We believe that the impact of institutional and economic factors has been critical in shaping the evolution of art history, and quantitative methods can be useful to improve our understanding of the history of figurative arts and the relationship between market structure and creativity.

Классические языки в профессиональной деятельности

This study addresses the frequent use of Latin and Greek in fields such as medicine, law, art history, and religious studies. However, there is a lack of research on how these languages are used in professional contexts, underscoring the study’s relevance. The research methods were the comparative method and the historical method. The study sampled Latin and Greek lexemes in medicine, law, art history, and religious studies. The study concludes that Latin continues to play a significant role in the daily communication of various scholars.

S. Alpers. <i>The art of describing: Dutch art in the seventeenth century</i>

The review deals with the Russian publication of the 1980s’ bestselling study of art history, whose author polemises with Michel Foucault by invoking Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, and Jan Komenský. The core premise of Alpers’ book is a thesis about the decidedly describing rather than narrating character of the Northern Renaissance as opposed to the Italian model. In its reliance on the ‘optical’ method in order to create images (using a lens, a microscope, or a camera obscura), as opposed to the use of perspective by Italian artists, Dutch painters are not merely engaged in copying nature but instead depict the state of mind, ‘the storage of visual images.’ They also abolish the priority of the verbal over the visual described as ut pictura poesis. Among other topics, the author pays tribute to Rembrandt. She argues that his uniqueness comes from the fact that he dismisses both the lofty Catholic miracle of the incarnated Word and the humble Dutch faith in the world’s outer shell, and thus rejects not only the Dutch art of describing but also the Italian idea of narrative painting.

Formation of art history and art studies as a science

Formation of art history and art studies as a science

Analysis of aesthetic value of ancient books in Song dynasty——Board design and font illustration system based on Song Dynasty books

The cultural industry and commodity economy of the Song Dynasty in China were very developed, which gave rise to a very complete book publishing industry. In addition to having high cultural value, the aesthetic value of books in the Song Dynasty cannot be ignored. The books of the Song Dynasty, as a model of ancient Chinese books, had very beautiful board designs and font illustrations, which had a huge impact on the design of later books. Therefore, analyzing the book design system based on the Song Dynasty can fully explore its aesthetic value, which is of great significance for the study of art history and modern book design.

On the Origins of the Récades of the Kings of Dahomey

On the Origins of the <i>Récades</i> of the Kings of Dahomey

Landscape Painting and the Construction of “Icelandicness”: Icelandic Modern National Art vis-à-vis its Danish Origins

The article constitutes an attempt at developing a new approach to Icelandic national art, supported by an analysis of its role in the process of constructing “Icelandicness” and the Icelandic identity. It enters a dialogue with the study Kryptokoloniale landskaber: tid, sted og rum i billeder af islandsk landskab 1874–2011 by Ann-Sofie Nielsen Gremaud, with a concurrent focus on Icelandic landscape painting of the period 1874–1944 and its relation to Danish art. The Nordic, and especially the Icelandic art was routinely overlooked in the European artistic and historical narration, including the Polish scholarly environment, but it is well worthy of a closer scrutiny. Two fundamental assumptions that define the analysis presented herein are that the modern national art of Iceland derives from the Academic tradition in Denmark and that, concurrently, Icelandic artists participated in the process of developing national identity in opposition to the Danish model. In order to find confirmation for the posed theses, methodologies close to post-colonialism and crypto-colonialism have been used, as well as ones inspired by imagology and based on interdisciplinary research in the fields of art history, history, anthropology and cultural studies.